Masked Feelings
by BlAcKdAuGhTeR
Summary: ONESHOT James discovers Lily's feelings for him when he asks a mystery girl to dance at the masked ball. Who is she? He has a bit of a shock when he finds out.


The masquerade ball was all everyone in the seventh year at Hogwarts could talk about for the last few weeks of the winter term and finally, on the last Wednesday of the term, the ball was to take place. All the girl talked about with each other between the corridors were their dress robes and masks they had purchased from Madame Colleen's Costume Shop down in Hogsmeade while the boys, who were taking a much more relaxed approach to it, merely walked around the school, occasionally asking a girl to come with them or just thinking about how they were going to win the competition for best mask. The years below them were all particularly jealous of this ball but it was to commemorate their last Christmas at Hogwarts and they were only allowed to go if a seventh year invited them.

That night, Head Girl Lily Evans was changing with all her friends back in the Gryffindor Tower seeing as how James Potter, the resident Head Boy had invited Sirius Black and Remus Lupin over to the Heads common room to change. She had been changing there originally but when Sirius had burst into the common room without knocking (James had given him the password) Lily stormed out of there after a rather unwelcome comment about how she looked like a drown rat when she'd just come out of the shower.

Back in the Tower, Lily was getting ready with her best friend in the year below, Tala Lupin. She was sitting on the bed watching Lily change into her emerald green dress robes with single strap over her left shoulder before starting to dry her hair with a Hot Air charm. With hair done and make-up applied just around her eyes, Lily did a twirl for Tala only to find her not ready.

'Why aren't you ready?' she asked. 'It's starting in fifteen minutes. Surely Sirius asked you?'

'Yeah, he did,' Tala shrugged, 'but I'm going to be like the only one in my year who's going. What am I going to do all night? I don't want to spend all the time with Sirius and my brother.'

'Then stick with me,' said Lily forcefully. 'I wouldn't leave you on your own or with those boys all night, don't worry. Now, let's get you ready. You got your mask?' Tala held it up. 'Perfect.'

Over in the Heads common room, Remus and Sirius were all ready and waiting for James to come down. Both were dressed in black dress robes and had their masks in their hands. Up in his room James really didn't feel like going. He hadn't asked Lily to go with him from seeing her accepting a date from Simon Roves, a Ravenclaw and he didn't want to see her with another bloke. However, Sirius and Remus had convinced him to go.

'Come on, Prongs!' Sirius shouted up from the stairs.

James sighed, checked his image one more time, then went to join the others.

'How do I look?' he asked them, his mask over his hazel eyes.

'Like an idiot,' chuckled Sirius, putting on his own mask. 'Trust Dumbledore to come up with an idea like a masked ball. How would we tell which girls we've pulled?'

'Hey, you're taking my sister, remember?' warned Remus. Sirius pouted at him and gave him puppy-dog eyes. 'Those eyes may work on her but they won't work on me.'

'Don't worry, Moony,' said Sirius. 'I wouldn't do anything to jeopardise my relationship with her. Trust me.'

'Come on,' groaned James. 'Let's get this over and done with.'

Down in the Entrance Hall, the whole of the seventh year were waiting to be let into the Great Hall. There were loads of different coloured masks and dresses on the girls while the boys had been less creative yet still some difference between them. Eventually, Professor Slughorn let them into the Hall and they dispersed, some dancing, some taking seats. After a few minutes searching, Sirius had found Tala and she joined him, Remus and James and he dragged her off to dance.

The dance itself wasn't too bad. James had been asked to dance by several girls but every time as soon as the music had ended, James went and slumped down next to Remus. Later, Sirius joined them seeing as Tala had gone off to talk with some Gryffindor girls. They ended up talking about their next prank for the rest of the evening until James's attention was captured by someone.

Across from them at another table, Tala was taking off her shoes next to Lily and rubbing her feet. They were killing from dancing with Sirius. Lily herself had had a few dances with Simon, the Ravenclaw seventh year who'd asked her and was taking a break while he danced with another girl.

'Been busy?' Lily asked her, grinning.

'Sirius can't dance, even if his life depended on it,' said Tala. 'The number of times he stood on my feet, I'm surprise their not bruised.'

'That's guys for you,' laughed Lily.

She glanced to her left to see a tall guy staring at her from across another table. He was wearing long black dress robes and a mask that covered the top half of his face. It was a deep red and had a few bits and pieces added to it but Lily couldn't see the pattern from this distance. She gave him a weak smile. He smiled back.

James saw the girl smile at him. He smiled back. She was wearing a long green dress and had a matching mask with feathers and glittery jewels on it. She looked really pretty. He couldn't see much of her face apart from her smile but it made him feel better than he had all evening. Sirius and Remus saw him smiling.

'Why don't you go ask her to dance?' suggest Remus, nudging James in the ribs. He'd seen them pass smiles.

'Nah,' James sighed. 'No point. She's probably got a date.'

'Doesn't look it,' said Sirius. 'She's been sitting there for the past twenty minutes. Go on, Prongsie, what you got to lose?'

James looked up again. What did he have to lose? It's not like it was Lily so he might not get turned down. Most girls followed him about anyway. James stood up and made his way over to her.

The guy Lily had been smiling at had got up and was making his way over to her. Lily just looked at him curiously. She didn't even hear Tala say she was going to get drinks. When he was about a metre away, Lily stood up.

'Hi,' she said softly when he reached her.

'Er, hi,' said James. 'Um, I was wondering …' a slow song had just come on, 'do you want to dance?'

'Sure,' said Lily.

The guy gave her another smile and offered her his arm. The girl took James's arm and he led her on to the floor. Once there, Lily put her arms gently round his neck while James's went round her waist, lightly holding her. They gently swayed to the music together with the other couples.

As they dance, Lily moved a bit closer and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. His grip tightened on her slightly. Whoever this man was she loved being held close by him in his strong arms. They felt somewhat familiar to her but she couldn't think where she knew them.

James started a bit when the girl moved closer to him and he smelt her scent. Flowers and sun, that's what she reminded him of. James didn't know where he'd smelt the same thing before but he was sure he knew it. He enfolded her closer in his arms, liking her being there. It was like she was meant to be there, like she belonged with him.

A few minutes later, the music stopped and James let go, Lily stepping back.

'Thank you for the dance,' she said. 'It was really nice.'

'Yeah,' agreed James. He gave her a small smile and nodded dumbly. 'Nice.'

Lily smiled and turned away to walk back to her table when she felt something grab her hand. James had just spontaneously stepped forward to stop her. He wasn't sure why but he said, 'Do you want to go for a walk?'

Lily thought about this for a second before saying, 'Yeah, I'd love to.'

James smiled again, a little brighter this time before he and Lily walked out of the Hall. Whoever the girl was, James liked being with her though he'd only noticed her tonight. It just didn't seem to click in his mind who it was he was with. Lily, on the other hand, was very glad he had asked her to go for a walk. Not that she didn't like Simon, he was a bit of a bore so a distraction to him was welcome.

'Hey, have you guys seen Lily?' asked Tala, walking up to Sirius and Remus.

'No, but James has disappeared too,' replied Remus. 'How exactly you're meant to find anyone behind these masks, I don't know.' Remus had his own in his hand. Sirius took his off, shaking his neat black hair out of his eyes as Tala carefully removed her own, not messing up her hair.

'One way to find out,' said Sirius. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the Marauder's Map. With his wand, he tapped it and whispered, '_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good._' and the Map appeared. He stared at it for a second before gasping. Remus and Tala looked at him. 'You'll never guess,' he said, grinning.

'What?' asked the other two. Sirius gave them the Map and pointed at the grounds.

There were two tiny black dots, right next to each other. One labelled James Potter. The other labelled Lily Evans.

Out in the grounds, the two teens were busy kissing one another standing underneath the beech tree by the lake. They had taken a long walk away from the castle, quietly talking to each other. James had put his arm around the girl which Lily had let the boy do without telling him to take it away. Once they were by the lake, James turned Lily to face him just so he could see her smile again.

Lily smiled at him as his strong hand lifted her face up. He had soft hazel eyes hidden behind his mask which she didn't know where she'd seen them before. They made her feel warm inside and so, when he slowly leaned into her, she let him brush his lips over hers before capturing them in a slow, long kiss.

James didn't know what it was but kissing her made him feel like on top of the world. Her lips were so soft as they ran against each other. Slowly, the kiss became more passionate and he ran his tongue over her bottom lip. Lily felt him do so and opened her mouth to him, letting his tongue slide in and run itself over the roof of her mouth. She tasted wonderful.

However, something in Lily stirred and she pulled back, breaking the kiss. As she kissed him, the thought of James strayed back into her mind. Before the ball, she had been hoping James would ask her to it. She'd seen and realised how much he really had changed since the beginning of the sixth year and wanted to give him a chance. She was going to say "yes" to him if he asked her out. But now, kissing this other guy, it made her realise something a lot more important. She had feelings for James.

James looked at her.

'What is it?' he asked her softly.

'I'm sorry,' said Lily quietly. 'I can't do this. I can't kiss you.'

Lily turned away to walk back up to the castle. James, however, grabbed her hand.

'What d'you mean?' asked James, confused. 'What d'you mean you can't kiss me?'

Lily stared into his eyes. They seemed so familiar.

'You wouldn't understand,' she said. 'It's something I've got to sort out. I have to find someone.'

The girl turned to walk away again but again, James stopped her, saying, 'Is it something I've done?'

'No,' said Lily earnestly, glancing back at him. 'No, it's something I've done. Something terrible.'

'What did you do?' asked James. He walked up to her and raised her lowered face, his finger under her chin. 'You can tell me, I won't say anything.'

'I turned down this guy,' Lily mumbled sadly. 'But now I realise I have feelings for him. I always have done. He would ask me out and I always turned him down but kissing you … it told me how wrong it was and how much I do like him. I saw how much he'd really changed over the past two years. I was going to say yes to him if he asked me out again.'

'Who is he?'

Lily looked at the ground and shuffled her feet. Every guy in the year was jealous of James Potter and how he got all the girls after him. Saying his name would just make this guy jealous but she couldn't lie.

'James Potter.'

James let out an inward gasp. The girl looked up at him and he gasped again. Her eyes, her emerald eyes. Something clicked in James's mind. He knew those eyes. She looked over her shoulder to the castle.

'Lily?' She looked back up at him.

'Look, I've got to go,' said Lily. 'I've got to go find him. I've got to tell him who I feel.'

Lily turned to go back up to the castle. But James stopped her again.

'I think he already knows,' he said.

'What d'you mean?'

'I think …' said James slowly, 'when you like someone as much as Potter likes you, then he would be able to tell when you like him back without you needing to say the words. Just holding you close would be enough to tell him how you feel.'

'How can you know that?' asked Lily.

'Because he's right here,' said James softly. He lifted his mask over his face and ran his hand through his hair. 'And he's known all along.'

'James,' gasped Lily breathlessly. 'I –' but she was stopped when James took her face in his hands, raising it up, and kissed her as passionately as he could.

It took a minute for Lily to realise what was happening but once she had, she wrapped her arms around James's neck in order to pull herself closer to him, kissing him back. James's hands moved away from her face, one removing the mask off her face causing her red hair to fall back down over her neck, down her bare shoulders and holding her round her waist.

That was why she had felt so right in his arms. James had asked Lily to dance. That was why she had felt such a familiar feeling. It had James who held Lily like that before.

Soon, the two broke apart.

'Will you go out with me, Lily?' James asked her, staring into her eyes. She smiled and nodded.

'Yes,' she said, smiling. 'A million times yes.'

And they kissed again, maybe with more passion than before, but they kissed again, holding each other as close as possible, not wanting to let each other go.

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**AN: hi, thx for reading my story and i hoped u enjoyed it. let me know wat u thought by posting a review**


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